USA and Canada trip round up

Matt Hunter and Dan O’Donnell were recently out in North America and Canada spreading the TRFC word.

Matt and Dan were across the Atlantic for over two weeks, visiting a variety of schools, colleges and soccer clubs in the United States and Canada.

Starting by attending the US Soccer Coaches Convention in Baltimore, where they gave a talk on TRFC’s ISA programme, they then headed to Pittsburgh and then onto Canada to meet with partner Club, Halton Hawks.

Following on from their visit Stateside, Matt and Dan will return to English soil before flying out to Indonesia on Tuesday.

Speaking about their fortnight in North America, Matt explained what experiences that he and Dan had got up to.

Matt said: “We were in North America for two weeks. We started off at the US Soccer Coaches Convention in Baltimore which was brilliant.

“We were able to meet all of our partners and contacts whilst establishing new connections. From Baltimore we shot up to Philadelphia where we met our good friends at FC Bucks. We delivered sessions to one of their U9s Girls teams and to four of their U14s Boys teams.

“Pittsburgh was our next stop and it was great to see the guys running the TRFC Pittsburgh Academy. It was also there where we had the win vs Watford so that was an added bonus!

“We then hit the road North to Canada where we spent three days with our partner club Halton Hawks. It was great to put on sessions for their U10s, U12s and U14s Boys groups. We had a whole host of media interviews to get stuck into and we also presented to around 50 parents of the club. We can’t thank Vasco Nunes (the technical director of Halton Hawks) enough for the way we were looked after.

“We then went to Connecticut where we’re presenting to players and parents of Shoreline FC. We met the lead coaches of Shoreline at the Convention and it will be great to catch up with them again.”

Matt reflected on the trip that he and Dan made, and they hope to be back over to deliver coaching this summer.

He added: “It’s been a brilliant trip and one that will prove to be a huge success. We’ve only been working in North America for 15 months, but people are already taking notice of Tranmere Rovers.

“We’re really excited for the next few months. We’ll probably be back in the US and Canada this summer to deliver coaching clinics at our partner clubs, but we also anticipate groups coming to Tranmere for periods that will see them take part in bespoke elite development training.”